Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: an Explorer from Space
by kayixu
Summary: Sazy lives in a world of pokemon. Kay is a mysterious alien who can't figure out how she got there. The duo form an exploration team. Action, mystery, and comedy ensues. Craziness. But something comes along to put a halt to all the comedy. There is something wrong with the flow of time. And the complex society of Kay's home planet is under the threat of a traitor in disguise.
1. Gravity

Black holes are mysterious things, Kay reflected, upon realizing that one had appeared close to her ship. How a black hole could just randomly appear was beyond her at the moment. That wasn't important right now, anyway. Right now was the time to figure out what to do. She'd done a lot of crazy things, that was certain. But her ship was about to be sucked into a mysterious void and it was time to do the craziest thing yet: survive.

"Klea, how are the sheilds?" the alien asked her smartship.

"Energy is quickly draining, Kay."

"Ok," she thought for a moment. "Drop the sheilds. Use all the energy for speed!"

"INTO THE BLACK HOLE? ARE YOU CRAZY? Oh, never mind. What a stupid question."

Klea went full speed into the black hole. It was a crazy idea, but it was the only crazy idea that Kay had. It had to work. Her life depended on it. Ugh. This was the worst situation she'd been in since last week.

At first, it was black. That was to be expected. She heard the creaking of her ship and prayed Klea didn't implode. She quickly got an intense headache. She was near collapse when she was blinded by flashes of light. Kay did collapse after a few seconds, but thankfully she landed in her chair.

All the colors of the rainbow and more flashed. Her headache became worse and Kay found it difficult to breathe. In just a few more seconds, they made it out the other side. A white hole. They _were_ connected! She'd just discovered the answer of a centuries old question! Or at least one century. This was great!

"Klea?"

"Functioning."

"Yeah! Ok, let's... What's that?"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the black hole, a ship uncloaked. It was dark inside. Two amber eyes glowed, but seemed to cast no light into the shadows. Others were there too, who remained silent as their leader spoke. The voice was deep, calm, and sinister.

"If that doesn't kill her, tell me what will."


	2. How it Started

A seven-tailed figure paced in front of Wigglytuff's Guild. Her emerald eyes were full of nervousness. Each step was uncertain, as though the ground was about to crumble under her feet. She looked at her Relic Fragment necklace, then at the building.

"This is it. Today is the day," Sazy quietly proclaimed.

She stepped onto the grate and waited. It was't long before she heard a voice say, "Pokemon detected!"

"Who's footprint?" asked another voice.

"The pokemon is..."

She stepped off the grate before they could finish. No. What if everything went wrong? What if she wasn't accepted? Maybe the training would be too difficult. She sighed with defeat, and left.

Sazy walked to the beach, and felt more relaxed almost instantly. The setting sun was reflected on the waves. Goldeen were surfacing to use the move bubble. They never stayed up for very long. She'd come at an ideal time. The bubbles floated just above the ocean, reflecting sunlight as well.

An unmoving shape lay in her periphrial vision. Worry vexed the pokemon again as she approached. Who was this? What happened? What kind of umbreon had blue rings? And they were wearing a peculiar choke necklace. It looked like a ring of pure gold with an emerald in the middle.

Kay was dizzy. Her muscles were sore and her head was throbbing. Her lungs felt like she'd just run ten miles. And then nearly drowned. Her brain struggled to figure out just what happened. She opened her eyes only to see blurs. Was... one of the blurs talking to her?

She sat up and blinked until she could see. At least she knew what was speaking to her. A vulpix! "Are you ok?"

She paused before replying, "Hey... I just realized something!"

"What?"

"I'm alive! And... I think I have amnesia."

"What?"

"Well, I don't remember much. It _is_ called amneisa, right?"

Sazy glanced around, wondering if this was a joke. "Do you remember your name?"

"Kay," the umbreon replied after a moment.

"I'm Sazy. What else can you remember?"

Before Kay could respond, a zubat charged forth from behind. Quick as a blink, it snatched the rock from Sazy's necklace and flew off. A koffing levitated slowly behind. The theiving pokemon flew down not far away. It happened too fast for Kay to react and the same looked to be true for the vulpix.

"What the?" Kay questioned as her headache began to ease.

"My Relic Fragment!" Sazy yelled while heading for the nearby cave. She stopped. "I have to get it back... but..."

"But what? Let's catch 'em before they get away!"

The duo quickly got through the beach cave. Kay thought it was odd how the whole thing seemed to be a maze. But now wasn't the time to think of geogrophy! Or was it jelly? Never mind! She had to focus!

High pitched laughter exploded from Zubat. "Look, Koffing! It's the pokemon too skiddish to stand on a grate!"

"Oh look Sazy," said Kay, "it's an irritating theif. Look's fragile. You wanna fight that one, or the pokemon that looks like it's a deflating balloon?"

"I'll destroy you!" the koffing screamed.

"I have amnesia, and even I know that's not gonna happen."

Both the enemy pokemon targeted Kay. Zubat used poison sting and Koffing used tackle. Kay felt energy buzzing her claws. She used shadow claw on Koffing. The poison pokemon was knocked backwards, and was hit by the poison sting attack. Before Zubat could tell his friend to stay out of they way, Kay used headbutt and Koffing crashed into the zubat. Zubat crawled out from under his fainted ally and tried to use bite. Kay's dark pulse stopped him.

Sazy picked up her Relic Fragment, relieved to have it back. They went back to the beach. Sazy picked up the thread she'd left there and was able to fix her necklace. Who was this pokemon? Where did Kay come from? There was a question she wanted to ask.

"Thanks for helping me..." she said after a moment. "This Relic Fragment is my precious treasure. I know it doesn't look like much, but I think it's important somehow. I think it might be the key to something mysterious! Something no one else has discovered before! The idea is so exciting, don't you think?"

"I want to make historic discoveries, find amazing treasures! That's why I want to join an exploration team. Earlier I tried joining a guild, but... Anyway, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know... I can't seem to remember where I came from... or much about who I am. Being in an exploration team sounds fun! What happened?"

"Do you want to form one?" Sazy asked, ignoring the question. "I think we could be a great team!" _If I can ever gain the courage to battle._

Kay considered this idea. Until she remembered more, she didn't really have anywhere to stay. Why not? Sazy seemed like a pokemon she could trust. "Ok!"

And that's how it started.

/epic music plays/

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: an Explorer from Space


	3. Here Comes Team Starlight

**Over a hundred views? :D**

"Pokemon detected!"

"Who's footprint?"

"The Pokemon is-"

"Yeah, WHO would bother us when we're about to EAT?"

"Calm down, Loudred."

"I AM CALM!"

"Who's the pokemon, Diglett?" a tired sounding voice questioned.

"Vulpix! The pokemon is vulpix! There's another pokemon too."

"WELL THAT'S JUST GREAT!"

Sazy stepped off of the grate, and Kay curiously stared at it. "What an odd contraption! I wonder what purpose it s-"

"Hurry up before Loudred starts trying to eat inedible things!" a new voice said.

She stood on the grate and waited. "This pokemon is..."

"WHO?"

"Uh... maybe an umbreon?"

"Maybe?"

"Just open the GATE!"

The gate opened after a few seconds. Kay and Sazy warily entered to find a spiral staircase. They ventured down one floor to see a small group waiting for them. A chatot stood in front the others for some reason. Maybe he was their leader or something? A loudred glared at them. Sunflora observed the duo with such a cheerful expression that Kay found it creepy.

"Hi!" Sunflora greeted them before anyone else could speak.

"WHAT do you WANT?"

"Loudred, be quiet. Why are you here?"

"We want to form an exploration team," they both said at once.

If Chatot had been drinking something, he would've done a spit take. He laughed histerically. The loudred just stared at them as though Sazy had grown wings and Kay began doing a hula dance. Sunflora looked excited and the diglett seemed to feel the same way.

"And just what is so hilarious?" Kay questioned.

"You two, an exploration team?" the chatot laughed. "You wouldn't last a day! This guild is for training capable pokemon for a dangerous occupation. You two are kids."

Kay's right eye started to twitch. "Sazy, what's that feeling that's like anger, but more than anger?"

"Rage?" Sazy replied with a sad look in her emerald gaze.

"No, more than rage."

"Hatred?"

"Yeah, that's it!"

Chatot looked at them with a 'I'm so awesome and better than you' kind of look. "Very amusing. Now run along, so we can have dinner."

Kay's eye twitch grew worse. She wanted to sink her claws into this pokemon. She _really_ wanted to act on this extreme feeling of anger. Aside from Chatot's horrible personality, there was something else about him that irritated Kay. Just what it was, she hadn't the faintest clue.

 _Control yourself._

The thought had seemingly come out of nowhere. Before she could decide if she was going to listen, a strange pink pokemon walked up. She knew the name of its species, she just couldn't remember. Hm... yoshi?

"Hello, there! Have you come to join the guild? Wonderful! New friends!"

"But-"

"Never mind Chatot, he's just cranky because one of Croagunk's projects blew up. Follow me!"

They followed the strange pokemon into another room. There was a nest in the center and a pile of apples in a corner. Maybe this was the guildmaster? Kay found this person to be even weirder than Sunflora.

"First, we need to register your team! How many members will there be?"

Sazy looked just as confused as Kay felt. "J-just two of us so far," she replied nervously, most likely hoping there didn't have to be more.

"Ok! And is your team name?"

The vulpix looked pleadingly into Kay's dark blue eyes. Kay searched her brain for an answer until a word came to her mind. It seemed so signifigant, in a way the umbreon had forgotten.

"Starlight?"

"Team Starlight!" the pokemon began to write slopily in a notebook. "And the members are..."

"Kay and Sazy."

After he finished writing, he closed the notebook and stared at them cheerfully. "Welcome to Wigglytuff's Guild! That's me, by the way. Now to get your starter items."

It wasn't yoshi? Kay had been sure that it was yoshi. She watched the pokemon open a chest and toss various random things aside. Wigglytuff soon presented them with a small satchel-like bag. He also gave them something called an Exploration Team Badge. This one was for teams in training. Apparently, they were to get a different one when they graduated.

Inside the bag, they found an emerald colored bow and a pink one. "Don't they look pretty? I think so! They'll help you in battle too. I'll show you to your room and then we can have dinner!"

-Later-

A full moon's light illuminated the room in which Team Starlight rested. Kay was lying awake in her nest, trying to recover even just a fraction of a memory. What did she remember before waking up? When she tried to figure it out, her mind went blank. How vexing, she thought.

 _Oh, never mind. You'll remember eventually. For now you must be careful. After all, you don't know much about this place. Klea might be destroyed, you'll have to find-_

Wait. Who was Klea?


	4. Contact

Kay finished her glass of milk and went to join everyone. It'd been a few days since she joined the guild, and she had trained herself to wake up early. She had to have a glass of milk in the morning. It was greatly needed.

The umbreon sat there waiting for Wigglytuff to sleepwalk in, mumble something random, and return to his room. Chatot referred to those random mumblings as "words of wisdom". Kay was actually quite pleased. Not only had her and Sazy lasted a day here, but longer than a day! Ha!

The green bow was secured on her tail, and Sazy was wearing the pink one on one of her own. They actually did help in battle, not that they really needed it. All they'd done in the past few days was retrieve lost items. How someone could've lost something in one place and it end up in another, she had no idea.

"Refridgerators are made with nevermelt ice."

"Wonderful! Alright everyone, time to start the day," Chatot said before telling the duo to follow him. The look in his eyes told Kay that he was plotting something. "Today, you'll be choosing something from this board."

"What makes this one different from the other?" asked Sazy.

"From this board... you choose an outlaw pokemon to catch."

Sazy began shaking from nervousness, while Kay smiled. "Sounds fun."

"Is something wrong, Sazy? You aren't scared are you?"

"Chatot, why are you so... unpleasant to be around?"

"Why are you so rude?"

"I'm rude?"

"Please don't start arguing again!" Bidoof said from the other board.

Chatot finally left them alone. Team Starlight stared at the board. Sazy looked as nervous as she could be. While the look in Kay's eyes wasn't really a bad one, it was a creepily cheerful one. It was going to be fun capturing outlaw pokemon...

But she had still yet to remember whom Klea was. Shouldn't she have been more concerned about that? Never mind, she was going to be capturing a criminal today! Kay looked excitedly at her friend.

"I think we should prepare first," Sazy said quickly. Kay didn't know if the vulpix really just wanted to prepare or if she wanted some time to calm her nerves. Either way, they had the coins. Why not?

They walked into Treasure Town. It was crowded, which made her uncomfortable. She must've been an antisocial person before. She sat down as Sazy looked at the items for sale in the market. Suddenly she found herself feeling dizzy.

Whatever this was, she closed her eyes and hoped it would stop. Her head told her that the world was spinning, even though her mind knew better. There was no feeling of nausea, though she did get an intense headache. She opened her eyes again. She saw nothing.

Just as she realized the blindness, a lightning-like jolt seemed to attack her head. Flashes of light then blocked her vision along with the blackness. She heard a roar. Then it sounded more like a scream.

"Kay!"

She blinked a few more times. The headache was gone, her vision returned. Sazy was looking at her with a worried expression. The Kecleon looked confused. It was clear to her that they didn't hear what she'd just heard.

The shiny umbreon asked, "are you ready? I was just... daydreaming. I think."

"Ok.. Let's get back then."

–

"You did what?" asked a bewildered Chatot.

"We beat the living daylights out of 'em!" Kay said enthusiasically.

"We _caught_ them. And the stolen items have been returned."

"But I-you-what the... how?"

Sazy was about to explode with excitement. She'd actually participated in the battle! It wouldn't be long until Chimecho called everyone into the dining room. She suggested going to speak with Corphish and Sunflora. Kay reluctantly agreed.

"We caught outlaw pokemon today!" she exclaimed.

"That's great! How many did you catch?" Sunflora asked.

"Three. They were in a group," Kay replied.

"THREE? But it took me forever just to catch ONE!" Loudred said as he walked up to them. "There's somethin' WEIRD about you."

Kay responded with a cheerful, "thank you!"

The umbreon ate dinner in silence, and fell into a troubled sleep that night.

–

"What do you mean, missing? Define missing. Kay doesn't go missing."

"I mean missing. The definition? She's not here, not in any known sector. We've sent search parties out to see if she was just outside the known sectors, and she doesn't seem to be. She's disappeared without a trace and no one seems to know where she is. As far as your last sentence: she has now."

"Great. She must be off exploring some unknown planet."

"There's no sign of Klea, either. Not anywhere."

Another voice joined the conversation. "I've got new news. The last signal from Klea came from just beside a black hole. We'll have to accept the possibility that Kay might be... dead."

Everyone was quiet for a few seconds. "That leaves you, Ziani. You're in charge for the time being."

"How many people know of the signal?"

"Us, and Nimbi."

"Tell her to not let word get out of the signal for now. Just say Kay discovered another Class One planet. Say she's preoccupied with studying its inhabitants."

"Do you think she's alright?"

"I don't know, but it's pointless to make any conclusions yet. It's only been a few days. For now, we'll just wait."

The others left Ziana alone. She looked up at the night sky and thought, _where are you?_


	5. Transformation

**Yay, new computer!**

Kay dreamt of a grand kingdom. It had many towns and cities, but there was more nature than buildings. She dreamt of highly unusual kinds of wild animals, living alongside pokemon. It was a beautiful kingdom, she thought. That's when the dream turned into a nightmare.

In a flash, it was all on fire. Castles lay in ruin. Smoke rose from the remains of a village. More than one creature was extinct. In the darkness of who knows where, two amber eyes gleamed menacingly at her.

That's when she woke up. The umbreon yawned and stretched before sitting up. Sazy was asleep in the nest-like bed next to hers. Kay carefully snuck out of the room and towards the kitchen. She had her morning glass of milk while waiting to hear the voices of other pokemon. She didn't.

When she finished her beverage, she walked to the large window on the floor of the bedrooms. The moon was at its highest point in the sky. It wasn't even close to morning! Now what was she supposed to do? She couldn't go back to sleep after that crazy dream. Maybe it had something to do with her past?

But it wasn't possible for a kingdom to spontaneously combust, was it? Kay remembered one of the creatures from the dream. If she was correct, it was called a dragon. It was a majestic sight to see it flying around. She thought flying would be fun. But oh well. She eventually wandered up to the top floor of the cliff-building thing.

The bars of the gate were far enough apart for her to just slip through. She did so, and began to walk as she thought about flying. She tried to imagine having wings and using them to glide over the village she now walked through. Her walk was ended when she reached another cliff.

She stood there, looking out at the ocean. It wasn't long before something caught her eye. Moonlight didn't flash brightly every ten seconds. What was that? She leaned forward on the edge of the cliff, which was not a great idea. Kay ended up losing her balance. She fell towards the pointy rocks, about to start panicking.

 _Just swim._

How was she supposed to do that? The current looked strong, and aside from that, pointy rocks! But since the only other option was to just wait for her death, she decided to try swimming. She focused on swimming and being able to swim. Kay focused on this with all of her mental energy.

Finally came water. She opened her eyes and saw one of those rocks just a few feet away. She looked around at the surrounding stones before starting to swim. Odd, she didn't think it would be this easy. As she got away from the rocks, she saw the flashing light coming from far below.

She didn't feel out of breath. Why not go check it out? Kay moved quickly in the dark water, not having a problem with seeing. It was easy to navigate in the darkness, especially when where she was going was flashing. She saw a huge, beehive shape in the depths. It was strange to her because bees didn't seem to exist here.

The light was coming from the structure's tip. She at last reached the odd metal thing and found out that it was metal. Kay swam around looking for a way in. Shouldn't her lungs be aching by now? She didn't question it for long, as she had found a partially open door. She swam through the small opening.

She surfaced inside, now unable to see. She slowly walked onto the hard floor. It felt slanted. That was probably because the structure was slanted. She walked until she ran right into a wall. Then she felt the walls using her front feet. Hm…. Was that another door?

She felt something else just beside it. Something round. Now what was it called again? Oh, right, a light bulb! She pushed the light bulb and the door beside it opened. Next came a long hallway in which Kay struggled to walk. Every few seconds, she either tripped on a random object or tripped because the floor wasn't level.

Along the hallway were several other doors. When she pushed the light bulbs beside them, they refused to open. It was after many minutes of wandering and tripping over things that she got an idea. She would just have to come back with a luminous orb. It was an amazing idea.

She mentally called herself a genius. Then she wondered how to spell the word genius. It took another few minutes for her to find her way back, but Kay made it out of the structure. She swam up to the surface and in the direction of land. Shouldn't she at least be tired by now?

Why was it so easy to swim? It was only when she reached a small beach that she realized it. She wasn't even an umbreon anymore. She was a vaporeon! How in the world did that happen? She didn't want to be a vaporeon. It would be really difficult to explain how she changed when she herself had no idea.

 _Umbreon. Umbreon._

She opened her eyes after focusing on that. She looked down at her feet to see that she was, indeed, an umbreon once more. The sky was getting brighter, so Kay hurried back to the guild, somehow managing to find her way back before anyone else awoke.

"Alright everyone! Time to start the day!"

Chatot tried to act cheerful, but Kay could tell he was disappointed his plan hadn't worked. The irritating pokemon told them to choose a task from either board. Sazy insisted they go rescue a meowth. Kay insisted on getting a luminous orb. Sazy won, as the umbreon didn't really want to explain just why she wanted the orb.

They searched the maze-like place called a Mystery Dungeon until they found the pokemon. The meowth had gotten seriously lost. They used the Exploration Team Badge to somehow teleport back to the entrance. Why didn't everyone have one of these, Kay wondered. Then, no one would need to worry about getting lost!

Since that didn't take long, they had time for another task. Would this day ever end?


	6. Current Team?

The next few days consisted of Kay gathering luminous orbs, and further exploring the underwater structure. She transformed into a vaporeon to do that. When she wasn't exploring the structure or completing a task from the boards, she was practicing her newfound shape shifting abilities. She did so in the beach cave, where she unlikely to be interrupted.

She mentally debated telling Sazy about all this while her vulpix friend did some shopping. A pichu walked up to the shop. The pichu seemed upset about something. Kay had been daydreaming about flying around as a starly and really didn't feel like talking to people, but decided to ask what was wrong.

She didn't get the chance to, as Sazy had spoken before she could. "What's wrong, Spark?"

"I need a pecha berry, but they haven't been growing recently and no one seems to know where to get one," Spark replied sadly.

"I don't think we have any. Kay?"

"Nope," said Kay, who'd been looking through the bag.

"We don't have any either," the purple kecleon said.

Sazy looked confused. "Why do you need one, anyway?"

"My sister's been sick for a while now…. Anyway, I should get back. Bye," the pichu said as she walked away.

Sazy looked depressed. "I wish we could help," she said to Kay.

"We'll just have to look for pecha berries when exploring."

"I guess that's all we can do. Anyway, ready to head back to the guild?"

"Not yet," she replied after a pause. "I want to go for a walk."

She walked casually to the beach cave Mystery Dungeon. Only when inside did she begin practicing again. She focused on transforming into a starly. But her concentration didn't last long. Kay felt mentally exhausted. She walked back to the beach and sat down, staring blankly at the waves.

"Ziani! What is the meaning of this?"

"What is the meaning of what?"

"You know what I'm talking about! Why are you lying to everyone about Kay?"

"How do you know about that?"

"We have a telepathic connection, remember? She's too far away to hear my messages, which is saying something, because this is telepathy. And I find out you're lying about her location!"

"H-how do you know she's not-"

"Because telepathy, darn it! She should hear and respond to my messages from anywhere in the universe, known sector or not."

"Maybe she's just not responding to you."

"If she'd heard the messages, she would've by now! Tell me where Klea was last located."

"We-"

"Just tell me."

"Just beside a black hole."

"…. No. That's not possible. She's still alive; I know it. I'm going to go find her."

"Just wait for now. We'll find her."

"I hope you're right."

Night came quickly and Kay almost decided to just get some sleep. But she knew she wouldn't be able to. That structure was just calling to her! She pretended to settle comfortably in the nest as her friend did the same. Should she tell Sazy about all that she'd learned?

"Uh, Sazy?"

"Hm?"

She paused. "Never mind."

No. For some reason, she didn't want to tell Sazy anything until she herself knew more. She waited for a bit for the vulpix to fall asleep and stealthily snuck out of the building. Why did the guild need a gate anyway? She made a mental note to ask that question later.

She walked to the cliff, transformed into a staravia, and took flight. When she was just a little ways away from the cliff and the pointy rocks, she turned into a vaporeon once again. She fell to the water and swam as quickly as she could to the unknown structure. She surfaced inside and used luminous orbs to light the way.

She tried pressing the light bulbs next to the doors, but no new ones opened. She eventually found an unfamiliar hall. The doors here wouldn't open either, but she saw one that was already halfway there. She walked into that room, only having to duck just slightly. There were several broken computers in this room.

Choosing one of the non-broken ones at random, Kay pushed the light bulb that said power. The screen flickered on. There were several options here…. Current team? She couldn't find a mouse, (or was it rat?) so she simply touched the option with a claw. That seemed to work!

CURRENT TEAM IS AS FOLLOWS:

LEVEL 77 SANDSLASH

MOVES ARE DIG, SLASH, CUT, AND SANDSTORM

LEVEL 70 PERSIAN

MOVES ARE HONE CLAWS, BITE, TAKE DOWN, AND SLASH

LEVEL 72 GOLDUCK

MOVES ARE SURF, HYDRO PUMP, AQUA TAIL, AND WHIRLPOOL

LEVEL 79 ARIADOS

MOVES ARE TOXIC, POISON STING, BUG BITE, AND U-TURN

Whoah. They sounded powerful. But what did it mean by current team? She went back and selected another option: reminders. Now what was the point of that? How would she remember to look at the reminders and be reminded to do these things? Anyway, she read them.

REMEMBER:

CLEAN LITTER BOX

MEETING WITH SHAR ON TUESDAY AT NOON

TAKE CARE OF GIANT ROACH PROBLEM

That was all that was written. Who was Shar? An image flashed in her mind of a teenaged human with long grey hair, and un-seeing eyes. Huh. Maybe that was who Shar was. She thought about that one picture in her head and tried to link it with more information. She couldn't.

She looked through everything else in the computer, not finding anything useful. Unable to make sense of any of this, Kay at last decided to head back to the guild. She got back fairly quickly and snuck back into Team Starlight's room. She collapsed on the nest, confused as ever, and fell into a dreamless sleep.


	7. Apples and Anger Issues

**I know it's been a while since I updated, there was an emergency, please don't attack me with lasers! -hides-**

Kay used shadow ball on the enemy pokemon. The bulbasaur barely dodged her attack. Sazy's ember was what caused the thief to faint. Now they had to beat his partner. The raticate used hyper fang on the umbreon. Sazy used flamethrower while he was distracted. Kay's headbutt attack knocked the strong pokemon back, and Sazy's nearly finished this fight. Kay used shadow claw and the stronger of the two thieves fell to the ground, defeated.

Sazy collected the stolen coins while Kay kept an eye on the criminals. They transported back to the Dungeon entrance and brought the two thieves to a pokemon called Magnezone. They went back to the guild and trained in the training area for a bit before the ever-cheerful Sunflora walked in.

"Hi! Wigglytuff wants to talk to you."

"I wonder what about," Kay said thoughtfully as she walked, followed by a nervous-looking Sazy.

The guildmaster's room was messy as it had been the first time she'd seen it about two and a half weeks ago. Wigglytuff greeted them with the same creepy cheerfulness he did every time he spoke with someone. But one of his light blue eyes was twitching.

"Hi, uh, I need Perfect Apples. Everyone else is busy, so I need you two to go get some Perfect Apples!"

"What's a perfect apple?" Kay asked.

Wigglytuff's eye twitch grew worse. "JUST GO TO THE APPLE WOODS AND GET SOME!"

As Sazy hid behind her, shivering, Kay replied, "YOU JUST SPAT IN MY EYE!"

"YEAH I DID! NOW GO!"

The two left the room to find a worried looking Chatot. "I heard yelling. The Guildmaster must be angry! What did you say?" he questioned and glared at the umbreon.

"W-we should be going to the Apple Woods. We have to get those perfect apples!" Sazy said.

"You mean we're out? Oh no, oh no, oh crud, no!" Chatot began pacing and having a panic attack. "They grow on the huge tree in the middle of the woods. Go! Hurry!"

"But it's fun watching you freak out," Kay replied.

"Come on!"

She reluctantly followed Sazy out of the building. The Apple Woods was already marked on their map. So the two set off on a mission for perfect apples. Now, what they were exactly, Kay had no idea. But she now knew that they grew on a giant tree. That should be enough information, right?

OoOoOoOoOo

Wrong.

Every tree in this forest was giant! How were they supposed to figure out which one held the mysterious perfect apple? And how were they supposed to know where the middle of the forest was? It wasn't like they could get a view from above it! That would require wings! Hey, wait a minute.

"I think we should split up."

"But if one of us find the tree, how will we let the other know?" Sazy asked curiously.

"If you find it, go to a nearby clear spot in the woods and use flamethrower at the sky. If I find it, I can use shadow ball a few times," Kay replied, hoping her friend would agree.

"Ok."

Hurray for quick thinking! Wasting no time, Kay hurried off in a random direction. When she was sure she was alone, she transformed into a pidgey and took flight. The midday sun warmed her feathers and she wondered if she would have the energy to go exploring the structure tonight. She had yet to find out any more about it.

There! There was a tree in the very center of the forest. It was huge, much larger than the rest. Kay circled the area a few times. It would be suspicious if she immediately found the tree. Mentally calling herself a genius again, she landed in a clearing nearby to the tree. She waited a minute longer and used shadow ball at the sky.

Sazy appeared before long and Kay led the way to the tree. The trunk of the tree was smooth; it would be impossible to get a claw-hold. So how were they supposed to get these supposedly amazing apples to the ground?

Sazy asked that question, and the two heard laughter. "Why, the answer is quite simple."

A skuntank and the koffing and zubat from before jumped down from the tree. Well, the skuntank jumped, the other two just sort of levitated and flew. Sazy stepped back. Kay glared at them, now irritated at the fact that she probably wouldn't be exploring tonight.

"You simply do this," the skuntank said and head butted the tree. The last of the apples fell to the ground. "There you go. Now, take them and return to the guild."

The pokemon behind him looked gleeful. "You're trying something stupid. I don't know what, but you are."

"Skuntank, this is the umbreon we mentioned," said Zubat.

"In that case, Koffing!"

The koffing moved to float beside his leader and Kay was only able to say, "what the…." Before a stench hit her nose so powerful that she fainted.

OoOoOoOoOo

Sazy awoke to find all the perfect apples were gone. Kay was still unconscious. "Kay?" she said loudly.

"Hm? Who, what, where, when, how, and why?"

"What?"

"Wait a minute." The umbreon sat up and noticed the lack of perfect apples. "Dang it!"

Sazy shivered with fear at the thought of returning without what they came here to get, but there was nothing else they could do. Kay, being braver, led the way back. By now, the sun was setting and they were both hungry. The guild was eerily quiet. Vexed with anxiety, Sazy followed her friend to the door of Wigglytuff's room.

"Come in," Chatot said from the other side of the door when Kay knocked.

"Perfect Apples! You brought some Perfect Apples!" Wigglytuff said cheerfully.

"No. We-"

"WHAT?"

Was that an earthquake? Why of all things was an earthquake happening? They had enough to deal with at the moment.

"If we may interrupt."

Kay stared in disbelief. It was those lunatics! Her claws sank into the dirt floor. _No, control yourself!_

Skuntank had given the guild leader none other than a perfect apple. Sazy could only say, "but, they…. We-"

"Silence!" Chatot commanded as Wigglytuff happily balanced the apple on his head. Strangely, the earthquake was gone. "You two have failed an important mission! We're lucky that another team was kind enough to stop a catastrophe!"

"They're an exploration team?" Sazy asked in shock.

"Team Skull," Skuntank replied.

"About to be Team Broken Skull," Kay muttered, knowing that probably didn't make any sense.


	8. Race Against Time

_Sleep._

 _Sleep._

 _CAN'T._

Kay opened her eyes; feeling like her stomach was eating itself. Chatot had decided the duo would not have dinner. It had taken every ounce of self-control she had not to attack someone. She crept out of the room and left the building. Treasure Town was pleasantly quiet, and a crescent moon floated above her. Kay decided to go explore the structure yet again.

So she swam back to the metal structure and tried to find a new place to explore. She walked through the dark hallways, using luminous orbs, until she found a door that was open by just an inch. A blue glow was coming from that room. She pressed the light bulb several times before she decided to try opening the door with force.

Her interest at an all time high, she lay on her side and put her front paws under the door. Summoning a large amount of strength, she pushed upward. The door creaked in protest but she was in no mood to listen to doors! She was able to gradually push the door open until she could crawl through. There was a huge computer screen here, which was emanating the blue glow.

She stared in shock at the green text on the screen.

STARSHIP MALFUNCTION! STARSHIP MALFUNCTION!

KLEA IS IN EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN MODE

CANNOT RESTART UNTIL STRANGE MATTER CORE IS REPAIRED

What? She walked past the epic looking chair and pushed a few random light bulbs until something else came up on the screen.

RESERVE POWER LEVEL: 82

REPAIRS MUST BE MADE BEFORE THIS LEVEL REACHES 0

IF REPAIRS ARE NOT MADE BY THEN….

THEN YOU'RE IN SOME SERIOUS TROUBLE

So Klea was a starship…. What was a starship exactly? And what was a strange matter core? This was so confusing! She asked aloud where this "strange matter core" was located. She jumped when she heard a robotic voice answer her. She followed its directions. She soon found a room with an odd grey-ish glow. There was a sort of tube. Within it, what she guessed was the strange matter floated around.

There was a crack in the tube, and some unknown gas blew from it. So it seemed she just needed to fill that in…. and Klea would be fixed! But it was large, and she was sure that even if gum existed here, she couldn't chew enough to fix the crack in the strange matter core. Then she realized something: she'd found Klea! And Klea was a starship, so Kay reasoned that she must be none other than a Kraymarzian!

She was excited. Now she knew where she came from: space! Her brain began to fill with optimistic thoughts of finally regaining her lost memories. She happily left Klea and decided that she would try to find a library. There, she would most likely be able to figure out what the best resource would be for fixing the strange matter core.

But her stomach growled again, so she decided that tonight she would sneak into the guild's food storage.

OoOoOoOoOo

"Alright everyone, let's start the day!"

The group dispersed and Team Starlight began talking about what they would do today. Sazy was still hesitant to battle, and Kay was distracted, so she didn't insist on catching an outlaw. The vulpix noticed this and asked if anything was bothering her. She had still yet to tell her friend about all this.

"Uh, I'll tell you later," she said.

"Help!"

A raichu hurried into the room, looking frantic. "Has anyone seen Spark? I can't find her!"

"What?" Kay and Sazy asked at the same time.

"When did you last see her?"

"Yesterday evening. She said there was a pokemon who saw some pecha berries growing in Starlight Forest. She said they were going to lead her there and I couldn't leave Vee, so I just waited and waited and I fell asleep!"

Kay resisted the urge to ask, "just how stupid can a person get? Why let her run off with random people you've never met before?"

"We have to go find her!" Sazy said, suddenly looking determined. "Don't worry, Storm. We'll go find her and bring her back."

They set off without hesitation to the Mystery Dungeon called Starlight Forest.

It was a difficult place to maneuver, and Kay grew more uncomfortable with each step. Branches made a roof overhead and strange tiny crystals in the leafless trees glittered like stars. She couldn't get a view from above like in the Apple Woods. They ran into dead end after dead end.

The confusing maze was starting to upset her nerves, and she was about to start clawing her way through the dense bushes when they found a clearing. There was a terrified Spark, cowering before a beedrill. The bug pokemon was telling Spark to enter a tiny burrow and return with the "treasure of Starlight Forest". It was in mid sentence when it was hit with shadow ball.

Sazy used ember on the enemy pokemon and let Kay finish beating the poop out of them. By the time the umbreon was finished beating the pokemon senseless, she turned around to see that Sazy and the little pichu had discovered a pecha berry. The three of them happily returned to Treasure Town, with their beedrill captive. Storm later gave Team Starlight a large amount of oran berries and some coins.

OoOoOoOoOo

Kay was trying to get comfortable in her nest when she heard Sazy's voice. "Kay? Is something wrong? You act like you're hiding something."

"I am," she replied awkwardly.

"Well, what is it?" Sazy asked, sitting up.

"Uh, well, I'm-"

"An ALIEN!"

The duo stared in shock as Loudred burst into the room. "I've figured it out! You are AN ALIEN! And I'm gonna get EVIDENCE!"

He left and an awkward moment of silence passed. Now that she thought about it…. Alien sounded right. Not Kraymarzian. "Uh, yeah. Actually, I am."

"What?" Sazy questioned in shock.

"I still don't remember much… But I found my spaceship, and know now that I'm not from…. Whatever you call this planet."

"Okay…." Her friend replied, taking a moment to let that information sink in.

"Oh, and there's another thing. I have to repair my ship before time runs out."


	9. Familiar Voices, and Stolen Pizzas

A couple of weeks later, the events of a day could be easily predicted. Kay would often disappear to gather any and all useful information she could, Loudred would make another attempt at proving Kay's alien-ness, and Chatot would glare at Team Starlight whenever they were in his presence. Wigglytuff had commented that they were making remarkable progress in their training.

The more comfortable Kay became here, the more apparent it was that she was highly unorganized. Their room in the guild was an absolute mess. Sazy looked at the small room, thinking it looked like a tornado had passed through it. She was looking through their supplies, making sure they would be well prepared for the next day. Food…. Check. Orbs…. Check. Blast seeds…. The sound of Chimecho's voice interrupted her mental checklist.

"Dinner's ready!"

Kay closed the book she had been looking at and tossed it aside. She followed Sazy to the dining room and sat down, about to start shoving food into her mouth, when Chatot spoke. Ugh. Couldn't it wait until after she was finished eating? Her curiosity was nowhere near as powerful as her hunger.

"There will be an expedition to…. Fogbound Lake!"

"An expedition? OH MY GOSH, IT'S BEEN SO LONG!"

"I hope I get to come along!"

"Kay is an ALIEN!"

Chatot continued when the excited voices grew quieter. "As the name suggests, it's always foggy there…. So we're going to find out why."

That was interesting. Kay was momentarily concerned about Klea, as the reserve power level had gone down to 65. But it quickly faded. The excitement was infectious, like an illness. She and Sazy were going to uncover the mystery of this 'Fogbound Lake' before anyone else did. How did she know? Well, she didn't. She was simply determined for that outcome.

After dinner that night, Chatot told the duo not to expect to be going. This only made her more determined, and made her eye twitch. Sazy seemed depressed at the flying-type's words and it took Kay several minutes of inspiring yet hilarious speech to lift the vulpix's mood. The seven-tailed pokemon was soon just as determined as Kay.

OoOoOoOoOo

"Ziani."

"Shar, Luke, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm here because Kay missed the meeting several weeks ago, and I haven't been able to find her."

"I'm here because an entire pizza was stolen a few minutes ago and I suspect her."

"Kay is busy studying a Class One planet right now and-"

"Again? Doesn't the Intergalactic Council say those planets are a waste of time?"

"Yes, but can you remember the last time she listened to them?"

"…. You have a point."

"And I guess the meeting can wait. But do contact her and find out when she'll be back."

"Ziani!"

"Oh, what now?"

"Where is Kay? The ocean is infested with giant space roaches!"

"Kay is busy right now, but I'm sure I can help you, Rain."

"I don't care who gets rid of them as long as someone does!"

OoOoOoOoOo

Kay awoke in the middle of the night, with a terrible headache. She was extremely dizzy, too. No, not this again! Her vision faded to blackness and soon came the bright flashes of light. This time it lasted much longer. She heard a roar, just like last time. But something new came next. She heard a voice. The angry sounding roar almost drowned it out, but she was somehow able to understand the words.

"Kay? Where are you?"

Just as quickly as it all started, it was gone. There was no sound in the room. Her vision had returned to her. Sazy was peacefully sleeping in the nest next to hers. That voice was so familiar. Hm…. Maybe she had a flashback or something? Did it have anything to do with her lost memory? Feeling tired once more, Kay went back to sleep.

It felt like only a few seconds had passed by, when Loudred was yelling, "GET UP, IT'S MORNING!"

Team Starlight joined the others and Chatot gave everyone a reminder that not all pokemon would be chosen to go on the trip. Kay immediately went to the kitchen and had a glass of milk. Then, she and Sazy set off on a difficult task from one of the boards, hoping that would help them be chosen to go. They were going to capture a dragonite.

The walk to the Dungeon, Dragon Mountain was made in determined silence. Sazy wasn't even shaking from nervousness, which was impressive. The pokemon underestimated them too, so that helped. Kay used dark pulse and Sazy used headbutt. Then they tried something new: Kay's shadow ball was propelled towards the enemy pokemon with the vulpix's flamethrower attack.

Sazy was knocked unconscious by the dragonite's dragon rage attack. Kay's shadow claw was seconds too late, as the outlaw pokemon used fly before she could finish the move. She quickly put a reviver seed in Sazy's mouth before she was sent flying several feet away. The reviver seed, through some form of magic or something, worked and Sazy woke up, confused.

The vulpix used false swipe, and the two finished that battle with their shadow ball flamethrower trick. They returned to Treasure Town, exhausted and hoping Wigglytuff would be impressed with the capture of the dragonite. They caught a venomoth that day too, before they were too tired to battle anymore. Kay didn't even have enough energy to be angry with Chatot. She simply collapsed on her nest that evening. Sazy did the same.

Who had that voice been? Every time Kay replayed it in her mind, she could find no memory to link it to. Klea still needed to be repaired. Maybe her starship would be able to give her some useful information? Maybe, if she could find some way of fixing the strange matter core in time. What would happen if she couldn't? Would this planet spontaneously combust just like the one from her dream? Her train of though was eventually interrupted by Chimecho's call.

Oh, food! She quickly forgot the seriousness and ate until her stomach wouldn't hold any more.


	10. Like it or Not

A slowpoke lazed in the sunlight, hardly awake, not seeming to care at all about what was happening. A togepi sat nearby, a look of wonder and excitement on its face. A gloom sat on a large rock. It stared at the nearby pond. A timid little zubat flew around, never venturing close to anyone. This scene…. It was so amazingly familiar….

"So these are the pokemon," someone was saying. When it spoke again, it sounded hesitant. "You've trained so many. When will you-"

That was the end of her dream. Kay woke up, surprised. She used to train other pokemon? So… maybe she was an alien umbreon with shape shifting abilities? What? She felt annoyed upon realizing that she'd finally unlocked a memory, only for the memory to not make any sense. She went into the kitchen, had her morning glass of milk, and waited.

It'd been a few days since Chatot's announcement, and today, the duo would find out if they were chosen to come. The umbreon was confident that Team Starlight would be going on this expedition. The guild members were awakening. It wasn't long before everyone had gathered and waited with hardly contained excitement. Sazy's eyes were closed, as though the vulpix was praying.

Excited whispering surrounded her. Sunflora was hyperactive and cheerful as usual. Loudred was attempting to speak quietly, but his whispers were more like a normal voice volume. Bidoof, the cheerful, yet timid guild member was looking nervous. Diglett and Dugtrio conversed quietly. The normally relaxed footprint checker pokemon seemed ready to explode. His father was probably the calmest, only training here in the first place because it was Diglett's idea.

Croagunk just laughed hysterically. Chimecho would be coming along anyway, to prepare the food for everyone. Corphish looked like he was about to vomit.

"Alright, everyone." Chatot was standing next to a more awake than usual Wigglytuff. "The pokemon have been chosen, the list has been made. The Guildmaster and I put it together with careful consideration."

Everyone was silent. The flying-type had a satisfied expression on his face and Kay narrowed her dark blue eyes. This couldn't mean anything nice….

"The pokemon are: Loudred, Corphish, Diglett, Dugtrio, and Sunflora."

The chosen pokemon cheered, and said they would tell everyone else about what happened when they got back. Kay wasn't listening. She was too busy glaring at Chatot, who looked rather pleased with himself. Ugh, why couldn't Wigglytuf alone have put that list together? Then, everyone would've been picked! The umbreon looked to her friend. Sazy looked as depressed as she could be.

Kay whispered in the vulpix's ear, "let's get out of here. I have an idea."

OoOoOoOoOo

Oh, she had an idea. But she would need Sazy to like this idea for the idea to become more than just an idea. They walked to the beach. The air was hot and there wasn't a cloud in the sky to shield the duo from the sun. Kay tried blocking out the light with a paw.

"So what's the idea?"

"We go to Fogbound Lake in secret, and uncover the mystery ourselves! Then, when everyone else shows up, we say 'what took you so long?'"

Sazy almost laughed. "No really, what's your idea?"

"That _is_ my idea!"

"But we'll be in trouble!"

"Maybe not. But Chatot sabotaged us. He's conspiring to make us leave the guild, and he's just gonna keep doing it until we make it clear that he won't defeat us!"

"That sounds really paranoid. Besides, if we follow them, we might get kicked out of the guild!"

Kay momentarily daydreamed about Wigglytuff or Chatot literally kicking them until they left. Ha…. "First of all, paranoia is very, very useful. Second, why would we get in trouble for doing what they failed to do?"

"But what if we can't?"

"Then I was wrong, and you would get to throw a pie at me!"

Sazy looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "I guess it's worth a try…. This may be our chance to prove ourselves. But we'd need to find out where Fogbound Lake is and circle it on our map."

"I think I know just how to do that."

OoOoOoOoOo

Bidoof was fast asleep, but Loudred was awake, reading about aliens. The flickering of the candle's fire, while somewhat random, had a kind of pattern. After all, there's only so many ways a tiny flame can move. So when an odd shape disturbed the soft glow, the pokemon immediately noticed and looked around the room.

He saw nothing out of the ordinary, and returned his gaze to the book.

 _It is possible, says some, that there is life among worlds beyond Zaph. But those people are crazy. No evidence has been found-_

"Loudred."

The pokemon yelled and jumped a few feet in the air. This awoke his roommate and Bidoof questioned what was wrong. Loudred proceeded to ramble on about how Kay must've just been there to beam him aboard a spaceship. Bidoof tried to nicely explain that aliens did not exist. Loudred denied it and for an hour, ranted about Kay being an alien and he being the most intelligent pokemon in the guild.

What he hadn't noticed was Kay finding his map, and using her photographic memory that she'd just recently discovered that she had. She looked at it, memorized the spot that was circled and the words 'Fogbound Lake' written in the circle. Then, she carefully put it back in the backpack, and stealthily snuck out of the room as a tiny dragoness.

She changed back into an umbreon in the hallway and was happy that the room had been so poorly lit. She hurried back into Team Starlight's room, where Sazy was waiting. They spent most of that night planning all the details of their "covert operation" as Kay had called it. She fell asleep that night, and had happy dreams of Chatot looking bewildered as she laid on a pile of gold coins.

They were coming on this expedition, whether he liked it or not.

 **Planning for the next chapter to be a long one.**


	11. Uxie

**Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: an Explorer from Space: special episode!**

Part One

The chosen pokemon set off at dawn. The sun was climbing to its highest point, and Team Starlight was preparing to leave. They just needed an excuse to get away…. All of their supplies were packed and ready, but of course the other two wouldn't leave the duo alone. Kay wondered how so many chores could mysteriously appear. Clean? The floor of this place was dirt, dang it! So were the walls!

As she helped organize the orbs, trying to tell the difference between the invisify one and the rainy one, she tried to think of a way to leave unnoticed. There were so many things in this storage room. They weren't out of anything…. Wait, that's it! She looked around; making sure Bidoof and Croagunk weren't nearby. Then she spoke to her vulpix friend.

"I think I know how to get out of here," she whispered.

"By using an invisify orb?"

"No, actually, my idea was far more elaborate. I like yours."

Kay then proceeded to use an orb, and was surprise when it began to rain. She'd been positive that she had picked up the invisify orb. Sazy face-pawed and Bidoof appeared from behind a pile of escape orbs, looking thoroughly confused. Kay and Sazy froze, unsure of what to do. The vulpix looked to her friend, hoping Kay would be able to come up with a decent explanation.

"What?" Kay asked, uncomfortable that the other two were staring at her. "I wanted to see it rain indoors!"

"Uh, can you go see if we need any apples or gummies? I think Chimecho took most of the food with her."

"Perfect, yes, Sazy and I shall go do that!" Kay said suspiciously and pulled Sazy out of room.

They hurried into the food storage room, and Kay closed the door, blocking it with a random chair that happened to be in the room. Why did they have chairs but not proper walls or flooring? She turned around, and saw that they were not out of any food item. She'd expected that. What she was looking for was what they had the least of.

"Quick!" she said to her confused friend. "Help me eat all the cheri berries! Then we'll be out of them, and have an excuse to leave!"

"But eating too many can cause hyperactivity!" Sazy argued. The umbreon, however, was already shoving the said items into her mouth.

Sazy laughed, amused at the craziness that was happening, and helped. The taste of the food item wasn't particularly pleasant, but it wasn't terrible either. They tried eating as quickly as possible. A knock at the door interrupted. It was Croagunk. Kay rambled on about random facts until the other pokemon's brain was overloaded, and the poison-type fled, laughing hysterically.

At last, they finished. Kay sprinted into their room and grabbed the satchel-like bag. On their way out, they ran into Bidoof. Literally. Then Kay said, "HIWE'REOUTOFCHERIBERRIESANDWEREGOINGTOTHESTORETOGETSOME!"

Sazy said, "ITMIGHTTAKEAWHILESOEXPECTUSTOBEGONEFORVERYLONG!"

"NODON'TBESUSPICIOUSTHISISN'TSUSPICIOUSATALL! BYE!" Kay said and the duo ran out of the guild, laughing like two crazy people.

They ran out of Treasure Town, gaining much attention because they laughed like maniacs. They continued running. For a time, they forgot what they were even doing in the first place. When they finally slowed to a halt, because Kay's lungs felt like they had spontaneously combusted, they realized they didn't even know where they were.

"Kay? I think we're lost," Sazy said, now much calmer than before.

Kay looked around at the forest. "Maybe just a little."

"Is it possible to be a _little_ lost?"

"I dunno. Let's try going this way."

The umbreon led the way through the previously unknown to them forest. Eventually they found the entrance to a Mystery Dungeon. They had been here before. And now that they knew where they were, they could get on the path that led to Fogbound Lake. They just had to hope they didn't run into Croagunk or Bidoof.

Thankfully, they didn't. The duo hurried along the pathway and Kay questioned why there were stones on the paths, but no one could be bothered to make a wood floor. Sazy explained some things about the planet Zaph, one of those things being that some pokemon simply didn't see the point in actual flooring and walls. They would be taking an alternate route once they got closer to the lake. For now though, they would stay on the main path and hope they didn't get lost again.

OoOoOoOoOo

At long last, they got to a lesser-used path to take. By now, the sun was growing close to setting. The two pokemon were getting hungry and would soon stop to rest. After walking for a little while longer, they found a clearing in which to sleep for the night. Kay gathered firewood and Sazy built the nests. Then the vulpix ignited the wood and her umbreon friend prepared their food.

As they ate, they spoke of many random and pointless topics. Kay tried to recover some of her memory. As usual, she failed to figure out more than she already knew. Well at least she'd discovered that she was a trainer of pokemon. Still, she wasn't exactly sure what that meant. She hadn't been defeated in battle yet, so it must simply mean that she trained other pokemon, she reasoned. But it seemed there was something else.

The duo conversed for some time before finally falling asleep. Kay dreamed of an orange feline. It had black stripes and rounded ears and its teeth were dangerously sharp. Its claws were even more so. The creature was chasing her-no-following her. It along with many others followed her lead. Beside them, a group of canines ran.

"Azorkians," the leading wolf said with disgust. It was grey and black. "They just _had_ to invade during the Quantum Leap marathon."

The way it spoke wasn't normal, but through telepathy. Kay heard her own voice say, "the last episode is disappointing, anyway."

She saw a cliff ahead of them. Her dream self didn't hesitate. Both groups jumped and transformed into some flying animal, she assumed they were birds, and flew off into the night sky.

 ** _Part Two_**

This was an absolute disaster!

Kay had forgotten to bring milk!

But they successfully managed to make it to Fogbound Lake without being noticed, so that was nice. But aside from the milk problem, she couldn't see past her own nose. How in the world was the duo supposed to figure out the mystery of this lake? They tripped over something every few seconds.

The only thing that Kay could figure out was that it was day, and they were probably in a forest. If only there was a way to see better…. This thought haunted her brain like an annoying ghost with nothing else to do with its afterlife. She then realized suddenly that she actually could see better than before. Her eyes could make out the shapes of the trees around them, and most of the roots arching out of the ground.

She told Sazy this, and as usual, the vulpix followed her lead. Her friend finally stopped and used ember so they could both get a clearer picture of their surroundings. No mystical treasure here. Kay would've been happy to just find a big on-off switch that said 'mysterious fog'.

"Kay?" Sazy said as the firelight faded.

"What?"

"Those are our footprints, aren't they?"

"Probably."

"And there're many, many of them."

Kay nodded. "Yep."

"We've been walking around in circles all this time?" Sazy sounded upset. "How are we going to figure out the mystery? We don't know what to look for, and we couldn't even see it if we did!"

"We'll find it," the umbreon insisted. "C'mon, I have an idea."

Sazy sighed and followed her for a few more feet. Kay halted in front of a tree, and clawed at the bark. She still couldn't see much, but she could see another tree just a little ways away from the one she was at. She mentally drew a straight line from this tree to the other. She headed for the tree at the end of the line and clawed at that one. Then she made another straight line to the next one, and the one after that.

Sazy quickly figured out what she was doing. The fire-type seemed to feel a little bit better, but still appeared worried. They continued on this way for a while, before hearing a voice that sounded remarkably like Sunflora's. Sazy pushed Kay behind a huge tree and stood beside the umbreon. They heard more than one pair of footsteps. They stopped.

"I'm tired," Loudred complained.

"Oh my gosh, how did you get picked to come along?" For the first time, the duo heard Sunflora sound irritated. "You're so lazy!"

"I am NOT!"

"Whatever. I'm going ahead."

They heard footsteps again, this time only Sunflora's. Kay carefully observed the other pokemon walk away. Well, one of them was gone. How were they going to get away without Loudred noticing? A minute passed. One long, drawn out minute. After that seemingly endless 60 seconds, their guild-mate spoke. Both Sazy and Kay jumped.

"You can come out now, ALIEN."

"How did you know we were here?" Kay questioned as they came out from hiding.

"I have special senses that allow me to detect ALIENS like you."

"Fine then. Don't tell me how you knew we were here. Just don't let anyone else know we're here."

Loudred rolled his eyes. "I'm ALREADY keeping that secret. I'd rather solve the mystery of this place with you two than SUNFLORA."

"Understandable," Kay replied.

"I don't think we're going to solve it, though," the vulpix said sadly.

"It'll take SOME effort. You don't expect a big sign that says 'look here for the reason of ENDLESS fog' DO you?"

"No, but that looks promising," Kay said, looking off into the distance.

They walked into a clearing where the fog was denser than in other parts of the forest. They could see the outline of a huge stone jutting out of the ground. They walked around it in silence for a while, trying to figure out just what was so special about it. It seemed significant somehow, Kay thought.

Then came something she _really_ didn't want: an intense headache. _Here we go again,_ she thought.

Her vision went black, and then came the blinding flashes of light. She heard a growling voice tell her to stay away. When it was over, she decided to walk right up to the stone and touch it. The stone was rough, except for a smooth circle…. A light bulb! She pressed it without hesitation and the ground began to shake.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" she heard Loudred scream, before losing her balance and collapsing onto the dirt.

The next thing she knew, sunlight filled her vision. She was somewhere else entirely. Sazy got to her feet and began shaking. There was open space in front of them, and a lake beyond that. Kay looked around and saw that there was an edge to wherever they were. Sazy followed the dark-type's gaze and hesitantly crept towards that edge.

"C-come look at this!"

She did so, and was amazed. Beneath them was the forest. They were on a floating island! She could even see a few guild members looking back up at them. Feeling very pleased, Kay turned around and walked in the direction of the floating lake. Sazy paused, before coming with her. Kay explained that she pushed the smooth circle in the stone and that must've magically lifted the fog and transported them to the lake, which was actually floating somehow.

As they celebrated their discovery, a shape levitated out of the water.

"I….I warned you…." The strange pokemon said, gaining Team Starlight's attention.

"Who are-" Sazy didn't get the chance to finish that question.

"I am Uxie! I…. I knew this would happen…. I saw it…. I should've been able to…. Prevent it…. But I couldn't…. none of us could…. I thought I'd be safe here, safe from that creature and its minions…. But here you are…."

"What are you talking about?" Kay asked, as they both backed up. The pokemon called Uxie steadily floated towards them.

The pokemon's voice was full of something Kay suddenly recognized as insanity. Uxie opened his eyes. The light blue eyes glowed as he spoke once more. "No…. I will destroy you…. I must…."

"Sazy, climb onto my back," Kay's tone was dead serious. She knew she couldn't fight Uxie. They were in some serious poop. "Now."

The vulpix was confused, but there was no time for questions. She was already holding their satchel-bag thing, so she climbed onto the umbreon's back as Uxie approached faster. They were near to the edge of the island. The fire-type heard her friend muttering, "something with wings, something with wings!"

There was a flash that lasted for just a second. Sazy was no longer on the back of an umbreon struggling to hold her. She was riding a rapidash. How in the world did this just happen? Kay just turned into a rapidash! Uxie looked just as surprised as Sazy felt.

"I said wings, dang it!"

Kay ran past Uxie and headed not for the lake, but for the edge. Sazy held onto the gold choke necklace tightly, and closed her emerald eyes as her friend jumped. There was another flash, and they weren't falling, so she opened her eyes again. Now she was riding a salamence. The view was amazing, the vulpix realized. Then she turned around and saw a red-ish orange light engulf Uxie, and he collapsed. The island began to fall too.

"We'll come up with a story later," Kay said. Sazy silently agreed. Coming up with an explanation could wait.


End file.
